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PETMAN Robot Video Shows Non-Human Origin
The PETMAN is a supposedly humanoid robot under development to test chemical protection clothing for the US Army. However, take a look at the PETMAN video below; there is something about the articulation of its legs that is not quite right...
(PETMAN robot goes for a walk)
How is this robot supposed to test human clothing when it has an extra, reversed joint in its legs? My legs don't work like that. Supposedly, the PETMAN robot has the following goal:
Natural, agile movement is essential for PETMAN to simulate how a soldier stresses protective clothing under realistic conditions. The robot will have the shape and size of a standard human, making it the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person.
The PETMAN robot is Frederik Pohl's consumption robots brought to life for your consumer pleasure, right out of his 1954 story The Midas Plague:
There was the butler robot, hard at work, his copper face expressionless. Dressed in Morey's own sports knickers and golfing shoes, the robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again, with Morey's own clubs.
Read more about the PETMAN Robot Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin; I found the video on good ol' MAKE.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/26/2009)
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